Campaign diary + David Cameron Diaries | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/series/campaign-diary+series/davidcamerondiaries
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David Cameron campaign diaryhttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/11/campaigndiary
After seven years on the candidates list, one election defeat in 1997, and 14 months as the prospective candidate for Witney, David Cameron finally gets to add MP to his name<p>After 24 hours of continuous nail biting, one hour's sleep and a round of television interviews, I have to make a speech and pull a string to reveal a brass plate with my name on it. I listen with rapt attention to the singing children, proud parents and governors. My remarks are entirely incoherent.</p><p>I mumble about all the people who have worked over the years to get the money for the hall and say I feel a bit of an impostor being asked to open it. &quot;A bit like coming on for the final chorus of Edelweiss, having missed all the other numbers in in in... &quot; Mind goes blank. First impression of new MP is of dishevelled mess who cannot remember The Sound of Music. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/11/campaigndiary">Continue reading...</a>PoliticsDavid CameronMon, 11 Jun 2001 12:26:20 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/11/campaigndiaryDavid Cameron2001-06-11T12:26:20ZFour steps to disasterhttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/may/29/davidcameron.campaigndiary
Conservative candidate in Witney David Cameron reveals his key strategy for surviving the election campaign: avoiding meltdown despite the best efforts of rival candidates, friends and the national press<p>But one cock-up and everything is up for grabs. So the key is to avoid a meltdown. Nemesis can take many shapes. Here are four.</p><p>Candidate nightmare No 1: the Church debate. Ours took place on Sunday night. Usually the Conservative candidate is castigated about every moral issue from the star wars and third world debt, to asylum and abortion. I was saved by the sheer dreadfulness of the other candidates. They did not understand the difference between bilateral and multilateral debt, waffled on asylum and talked for so long that the congregation was kept on their backsides for two hours even though half of their questions were left unanswered. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/may/29/davidcameron.campaigndiary">Continue reading...</a>David CameronPoliticsTue, 29 May 2001 11:04:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/may/29/davidcameron.campaigndiaryDavid Cameron2001-05-29T11:04:04ZLasting the electionhttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/may/15/davidcameron.campaigndiary
The election has finally been called and David Cameron, the Conservative candidate in Witney, has flown out of the starting blocks. But, he muses, a lot can happen in the next 23 days<br><br> <a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/hoc/constituency/0,9338,-1444,00.html">Ask Aristotle: Witney</a><p>Fair point. But my ill-chosen words were just a small hiccup in what felt like a good first week for the Conservatives both locally and nationally. Tony Blair's opening gambit at St Saviour's and St Olave's school was beyond parody and a godsend for the Conservatives. Harry Enfield and Private Eye, eat your heart out. The contrast with Hague's real-people-style kickoff in Watford could not have been more stark.</p><p>Knocking on a door in Witney, one voter said, &quot;You've started well&quot;; but before I could congratulate myself for putting up countless posters or getting most of my introductory leaflet out in the first 72 hours, he added, &quot;I mean, the Conservatives nationally, of course.&quot; This was a timely reminder that however hard you work, the national campaign has far more influence than anything you can do locally. But it also showed that success at the centre filters through to your own constituency campaign.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/may/15/davidcameron.campaigndiary">Continue reading...</a>David CameronPoliticsTue, 15 May 2001 11:06:53 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/may/15/davidcameron.campaigndiaryDavid Cameron2001-05-15T11:06:53Z